The maintenance of a continuous supply of parts or materials at a part fabrication or production line operator station has always been a problem in manufacturing facilities. Normally, the parts or materials are presented to the operator station on a pallet or in pallet mounted containers. When a pallet or container becomes empty, it has to be replaced with a fully loaded pallet or container. This has resulted in excessive time losses while the empty pallet or container is removed and replaced with a full one.
Various types of ferris wheel mechanisms have been developed over the years for providing access to various articles, parts or materials. Wilson, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,792,105, discloses a planetary parking structure for automotive vehicles. The parking structure is in the form of a ferris wheel having a plurality of platforms, each holding a vehicle. A planetary gear system maintains the platforms parallel to ground surface. Solski et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,759, teaches a pallet transfer device having a ferris wheel type mechanism which transfers a pallet from an upper conveyor to a lower conveyor. Krysty, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,024, Burgess et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,748 and Lemons in U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,180, disclose ferris wheel type display and tool holding mechanisms.
Various other types of pallet or container transfer devices are commercially available. Harcon Engineering, Inc. of Madison Heights, Mich. and Steel Master Transfer, Inc. of Orion, Mich. disclose pallet and container transfer mechanisms having a vertical lift at one end which transfers the empty pallet or container from a lower load conveyor to an upper unload conveyor. These commercially available mechanisms include mechanisms of tilting the container to provide easier access to its content and turntables which permit the container to be rotated. Airfloat Corporation of Decatur, Ill. also teaches mechanisms for rotating and tilting a pallet or container.
The invention is a ferris wheel type mechanism for positioning pallets and/or containers in which two or more pallets and/or containers may be positioned at the operator station and which is easy to load full containers and remove or unload empty containers.